Kids woke up around 8.20am, so we all got a relative lie-in.
Good job as it had been a late night the night before, and I'd had a back-aching night's sleep on those tiny, ¾ lilo-size beds.
We said our goodbyes to Sally before I tiredly plotted a plan for the day’s activities over a mug of coffee.
Top of my list was a trip on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line (pictured above), a heritage steam-locomotive line 18 miles long that runs between Pickering and Whitby via the stunning North Yorks Moors.
Many of the stations have been restored to early 20th century condition thanks to lottery funding, and I thought the kids would like it too.
We planned to alight at Goathland station (pictured below) - better known to fans of the Harry Potter films as Hogsmeade, and also the former terminus for the line - before taking the train through the Moors and down into beautiful Whitby for lunch on the harbourside. I wasn't going home until I'd seen what all the fuss was about Whitby fish and chips.
We’d travelled about 25 miles and were passing through the old market town of Pickering when we both agreed we didn’t have the energy to carry the day plan out. The trip was postponed for a day on the caravan site.
We took the kids on a whistle-stop tour.
The first stop was the kiddies outdoor play area near the entertainment complex. It was a wild assortment of slides, swings, climbing frames and other kiddie play accessories, and Ben loved it. Too much.
We spent a good 20 minutes there and when it was time to move on, Ben went into full tantrum mode. I had to carry him chest-high away. I kept telling him that there were plenty of other things to do on the caravan park and we going on an adventure to find them. He wasn’t having it.
A brisk walk away was the carousel wheel, and we plonked Ben reluctantly in a Cinderella-style carriage. He was still crying, crimson-faced and angry. Very angry.
He was the only kid on the carousel, and we waved and smiled with each revolution as the irate Ben went by. He looked tortured. Still crying, we took the raging Ben further round the park before finally stopping off at the cliffs at the top of the Park, overlooking the sea.
By this stage, Ben’s cries were reducing to a repetitive sob, but he was still huffing with Mummy and Daddy. We sat on the grass and Ben wouldn’t join us, standing on the same spot 30 feet away refusing to move of it for about 5 minutes.
The time was around 6.30pm and we'd been spoit for weather again - sunny and bright. Ciaran was getting tired and we decided to head back to the caravan after a bog-standard day on site with nothing spectacular to note apart from Ben had fun at the beginning, Ciaran seemed chilled out throughout and we saw lots of site facilities.
Ellen put Ciaran to bed and fell asleep too, while I watched Transformers the movie with Ben. He couldn't work out who the Autobots were and soon fell asleep on my lap.
Now, what would I do for a good night's sleep?
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